How long will my wonderful Camry last?

[camrymary]

I have a 98 Camry and it runs like a new car, although it has 140,000 miles on it. Many of them are highway miles.
Amazingly, I have never had the brakes done, and I have them checked for wear regularly! But I do lots of highway driving and am pretty sedate around town.
I'm wondering how long my wonderful car will last. I've never had a car with this many miles on it, actually. I usually trade in at about 100,000 (for another Toyota, of course) and go from there.
I also have done lube and oil changes every 3,000 miles (since 13,000 when I got the car) and have taken care of maintenance, tune ups, etc. religiously.
Any ideas out there? Since I just retired, I'd like to keep this one rather than figure out how to pay for another one!

[Camryfanatic]

Do the regular maintance and stuff, it can last pretty long. I have heard that Gen. 3 that I own can last almost to 500,000 miles! After its pretty much you might want to get a new car because thats when everthing else starts to go. During that 500,000 the water pump goes and then everything else.

[cam2Xrunner]

Yeah 140K is nothing really, especially if you've been doing the regular maintenance. Just be sure to change the Timing belt every 60-90K miles, and do the other tune up stuff.

If you haven't changed the brake fluid you might want to do that, as well as have the back brakes, if they're drum brakes, adjusted and cleaned. If you have a V6, you have rear disc brakes, so you don't have to worry about having those adjusted.

If you've never changed the struts, you might want to do that. Those camry's have a tendency to have a very soft rear suspension after 100k.

[95WhiteCamry]

as stated before me, if you properly maintain it, your only problems will be with the "wear and tear" items. Like I say: "better pay now to upkeep it then pay double later to fix it"

[redgtxdi]

I agree!! I've got a '98 too and mine's got 108,000 miles on it and I swear that (except for the strut/spring bushing squeak) it still feels like new to me.



After test driving Corolla's and Elantra's 'til I was blue in the face, I still think my Gen 4 is smoother than either. Grab that Gen 4 steering wheel and you can drive with your pinky!! I remember feeling like I could fall asleep driving that thing......(like you were on a cloud).......and I still feel that way today!! I'm definitely keepin' this thing 'til the wheels fall off. I've had ALL maintenance done (and then some) so I don't see why mine wouldn't hit that 500,000 mile mark, for sure!!

In fact,.........after all this new car searching and since I got hit so hard on depreciation on this vehicle and it's still so good, I might go look for another '98/'99 instead of a new car. If (and this is just imho) but, IF I think this thing rides, drives, shifts and runs better than a new Corolla, then why would I want to go spend another $14-$17K on a Corolla when I can have another Gen 4 Camry??????????????????

Worst service I had to pay for was about a year ago at around 90,000+ miles when I had them change the Tbelt, all other belts, all seals,(including Cam/Crank front seals) all hoses, water pump, thermostat, etc. etc. and the whole thing cost me right around a grand. After that, this car's good for another 100,000 miles before another service like that one.
Sound crazy?????????? Or sound smart???????????

[camrymary]

Thanks, everybody! I agree totally with everything. I have had the struts done, as there was rattling and thumping under the car. The guy had to replace the tower also, I believe. He said that Camry's need this eventually.

Replacing the brake fluid and having the brakes serviced is a good suggestion. Also, I've had the timing belt done at 60,000 and better do it again soon. What a car!

[Knailgun]

camry can last a LONG time, I have almost 200,000 miles on mine and you'd never know it to drive it. Maintain it, keep up on any rust (you gotta kill it before it gets too far) and the car can last a few.....decades

[Cyorke]

I ahve personally seen a Camry with 330,000 miles on it when I was working for the dealer I used to work at. The guy had bought it new and had all service done at the dealer and it looked new, drove like new, with no leaks of any kind. ALl he had done was normal maintenance. I am sure it is still going toay probably. We have had several 92-96 models traded in with well over 200k miles on them and still seem to be in decent shape. As long as you take good care of them no reasone you can't get another 140k miles out of it at least. I mean if a Volvo can set the record for most miles on a vehicle with somewhere over 1,000,000 miles on it, surely your Toyota can keep going.